More regional tourney/LAN action: there’s a 2v2 tourney (no rules or prize listings yet, but entry is $5) on August 20 in Nashville, TN, and there’s a weekly LAN party in New York City ($20 admission), hosted by NYCLAN – thanks, Bonnie. Update: Scott points out an online tourney this weekend, 4v4, MLG-style, $8/person to sign up. They’re coming out of the woodwork!

Scooter Vieth put up a note about a 4v4 tourney in Cincinnati this weekend – $25 per person to get in ($30 at the door), $1000 on the table in cash and prizes. Check out the info on the Game Junkie web page.

You know he’s hard up for material when Stuntmutt starts making inside clan jokes in his One One Se7en entries. Oh, wait… he’s been doing that for a while.

Just clearing out the Fan Fiction queue – only four stories this time around. Summer lull?

A couple of days ago, we mentioned PumaHog’s Toy Soldiers trailer – they’ve since submitted it to the Movie Peer Review Rating System, and passed. If you haven’t seen it, we’re now hosting copies – QuickTime (18.4 mb) or WMP9 (18.9 mb). Go watch!

Hehe – go check out this parody of the Halo level 343 Guilty Spark, done by ClassParody, over at Newgrounds. (Flash, 1.8 mb) Pretty funny stuff! Thanks, Samir Patel.

Looks like Damien Lacedaemion, of This Spartan Life, will be interviewed this evening on G4TV’s “Attack of the Show” at 7 pm EST. Go watch!

Over on the Power Tab Archive, Shadowsniper689 found a guitar tab for a Halo theme that wasn’t used in the game (but is available on Bungie.net). I can’t read .ptb files, and there’s no link to the original, so your guess is as good as mine – but if you’re looking for tabbed Halo music, you can add this to your collection. Update: Billy clarifies which piece we’re talking about. Thanks, Billy!

2old2play has released 2old2type Episode 6, their newest installment of their podcasted commentary. Discussion of game addiction, among other topics… available for direct download (off archive.org) or via BitTorrent – about an hour, 30 mb, MP3 format.

XerxDeeJ has posted another summary of new articles on his Tied the Leader blog – there’s a reader poll asking what you’ll move on to after Halo, some musing on trash talk (inspired by a thread on our forum last week), and a Top Ten list that might hit home.

Marty O’Donnell and Jay Weinland, Halo sound gurus, and SketchFactor and Frankie, community gurus, were interviewed by IGN while at the GPhoria Awards ceremony last week. Questions like ‘how do you feel creating a game that everybody kicks your ass at?’ and ‘Where’s the Hot Coffee in Halo?’ should give you a sense for how this one went. Streaming 320×180 for the masses (9.7 – 21.1 mb), downloadable 640×360 (21.4 – 40.5 mb) for IGN Insiders. Thanks to mejp44 for noticing.

GAH! This came in a couple of nights ago – I lost it in the rush of mail. Richie’s Armor has created a pair of resin-cast SMGs, for sale on eBay – starting bid is just under $150, there are still 5 days left on the auction. They look great – check ’em out!

OS eco419 whipped up a delicious-looking Halo 2 cake, and shared it with our forum. Mmmmm…

The Codex Series Episode 18, ‘Rallying The Troops’, has been released – I think one of the scriptwriters has been watching Independence Day. It’s a nicely inspirational episode, and the troop rally is wonderfully filmed. Currently available only in QuickTime (about 86 mb), but WMP9 coming today – go download! Thanks to many – first was FxH Spartan II.

thescottishguy writes to point out a 2-day LAN in Scotland, August 19th and 20th; entry is £5 for Friday, £10 for Saturday, with £1500 on the line for prizes. (Preregistration is available.) The only thing I can’t find any info about (either in the email he sent, or anywhere on his website), is WHERE this is being held – but then, Scotland isn’t that big of a country, so maybe you’ll find it.

MLG posted a short article summarizing the final games between Str8 Rippin and Team 3D… congrats to Str8 Rippin for taking the MLG Philly title! Thanks, 3Suns.

More articles formatted for your PSP are available at Mintz’s site – check the ‘New Articles’ section near the top. MLG Editor’s Corner, MLG Philly preview, July 29th WWU.

Wow. If you’re a gamer (at least in the US, but likely this stuff holds true worldwide), you owe it to yourself to read this series of articles. Not specifically Halo-related… but definitely eye-opening. Thanks, Deanero.

After some server downtime, This Spartan Life is back with Body Count. Environmental debate – with guns. Man… if more debates were conducted this way, at the very least we’d have fewer windbags to listen to! Funny stuff. QuickTime format, 20.8 mb.

Amir wanted to point out his blogged review of Halo vs Halo 2 – the more you read, the more you’ll see how conflicted he really is. (“I like Halo 2 better – but man, I hated X. And Y. And god, Z was AWFUL! And A, B, and C about Halo really rocked. But I like Halo 2 better.” etc)